MLA Citations.. for Tweets?!

Yes, you read that title right. The Modern Language Association has succumbed to social pressure and added an MLA 7 citation critera for citing tweets that includes the user’s last name, first name, user name, entire tweet, date, and time. It can be cited like this:

The MLA handbook says that this is HOW to cite a tweet (the long version). I find it funny that they see the need to differentiate between Pacific coast time and Eastern standard time when citing a tweet, and also that you have to put “tweet” at the end of the citation to specify where the information is coming from:

The interesting thing about this is not only that the MLA is so modern with its citations, but that someone would want or need to cite a tweet in a professional or educational paper! Sometimes, professors don’t accept sources because they aren’t valid enough, and how can a tweet be a valid source! Yes, sometimes news media use tweets in their stories, and perhaps this format can be used when people start citing Twitter information and tweets in textbooks.

So there’s your random fact of the week. Next time you want to cite a tweet in an academic paper, MLA will let you!